Development of a behavioural welfare assessment tool for routine use with captive elephants.

ABSTRACT: There has been much concern in recent years about the welfare of elephants in zoos across North America and Europe. While some previous studies have assessed captive elephant welfare at a particular point in time, there has been little work to develop methods which could be used for regular, routine welfare assessment. Such assessment is important in order to track changes in welfare over time. A welfare assessment tool should be rapid, reliable, and simple to complete, without requiring specialist training and facilities; welfare assessments based on behavioural observations are well suited to this purpose. This report describes the development of a new elephant behavioural welfare assessment tool designed for routine use by elephant keepers. Tool development involved: (i) identification

SUBMITTER: Yon L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6364905 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature